St Valentine's Day
by Symbolist
Summary: Galinda has a Secret Admirer... Valentine's Day special from the author of Every Little Trait


_Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize and everyhing you do not._

_Author's Note: Just a little oneshot for Valentine's Day! This is book-based. These are vignettes, not chapters, so yeah I'm not breaking rules. I know I'm screwing up the timeline here, but I just did it to make the story more interesting. Plus, I couldn't remember (a) when Boq got over Galinda, (b) when Elphaba and Galinda became friends, (c) when Fiyero came to Shiz, or (d) when Fiyero properly met everyone. So yeah I bended all that to suit my purposes. Don't sue me please, but please do review:-)_

_And for those who want to know, this is Goq and Fiyeraba. I don't believe in Gelphie._

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**St. Valentine's Day**  
_by Fiyero Oberon_

I.

Galinda of the Arduennas was a sophisticated sort of girl – or so she liked to think, and so she liked others to think as well. Unfortunately, if word ever got around that she was merely a country girl from the Pertha Hills, her footing on the social ladder could very easily slip and she might find herself clinging on near the bottom, along with her estranged roommate and that prince from the Vinkus. She was wealthy enough, no doubt, but the fact remained that she was not from a big city. This was one of her private secrets, of course, kept folded and buried in the bottom of a stocking drawer where even her roommate would probably not think to look. Probably.

At any rate, being a sophisticated girl, it was natural that she would enjoy a holiday such as Valentine's Day, a holiday the Wizard had introduced to Oz upon his arrival. The first February the Fourteenth of his reign, there was apparently an uproar in the Emerald City when a guest was shown into the throne room – the Wizard had insisted that no one was to interrupt him on any holiday, which only raised confusion. Ozians had never heard of the St. Valentine the Wizard spoke of, although the character was quickly adopted by the unionists. The Wizard told a tale that associated St. Valentine with love, but Galinda could never remember the tale. At any rate, Valentine's Day had always been her favorite holiday growing up, because it was full of pink and red hearts and glitter and frilly white lace and chocolate. Especially chocolate.

Much to Miss Elphaba's dismay, Galinda had stayed up late the night before cutting hearts out of paper and pasting strips of white lace to them and writing messages of love and friendship and signing her name in gaudy, twisting letters at the bottom of each one. Crope and Tibbett had appeared surprised and almost perplexed as she tossed theirs to them – naturally, Avaric's had been substantially bigger than theirs and she had used generous amounts of lace and glitter on his.

Boq and Fiyero were sitting with Crope, Tibbett, and Avaric when Galinda came over with the Valentines, but Galinda had simply forgotten to make them cards. Fiyero didn't even look up as she passed out the Valentines, but Boq had looked up hopefully, as if he had really expected her to make one for him. Galinda, however, knew that Boq was a Munchkinlander, and a farmer's son no less, and there was just no use giving a farmer a Valentine because they didn't understand such pleasures.

When Galinda took her seat at her own elite table, wedged in a circle with Milla, Shenshen, and Pfannee, she was pleasantly unsurprised at the small pile of Valentine's Day cards that had collected on the table in front of her chair. Galinda sent Shenshen to get her some breakfast while she began to open the cards. Most of them were just the usual – a heart, some lace, some glitter, "Happy Valentine's Day," and a signature.

Except for one.

Galinda had had plenty of secret admirers in the past, of course. She had, after all, grown up in Pertha Hills, where she was considered the prettiest girl west of Settica. But most of those secret admirers had been foolish teen or preteen boys who were silly enough to write their names in parentheses beside the "Signed, A Secret Admirer" part. But this one lacked a name, as was usually expected of a _secret_ admirer, but not usually expected of a simple-minded girl like Galinda.

Galinda herself even admitted that she was used to having information served to her on a silver platter with caviar and Quadling spices on the side.

It was different from the others in the very way it was made. The Admirer had used a whole page of red parchment and had pasted five or six doilies to the back so the lace would stick out excessively on all sides. White ink, a rare and expensive luxury that even Galinda had avoided, had been used to scrawl "Happy Valentine's Day, Galinda! I want you to know that I do love you, even from afar, and I hope that we may be together sometime soon!"

"Who's _that_ from?" demanded Shenshen as she came back with Galinda's breakfast tray. Galinda brushed the other Valentines onto the floor to make room for the tray, too distracted by the Secret Admirer to consider organization or tidiness.

"A Secret Admirer," said Galinda.

"Ohhh, who do you think it is?" said Milla, snatching the oversized card from Galinda's hands for examination.

"I don't know," said Glinda hotly. "If I did, wouldn't I be over there talking with him?"

"Or her," added Milla. The other girls looked up at her sharply. "What? You never know around here… Miss Elphaba seems suspicious to me, and you've seen those Crope and Tibbett boys."

"It was me," said Miss Elphaba, sidling up to the table. "Of course, couldn't you tell, Miss Galinda? Didn't you see me last night, cutting and gluing and writing?"

"Why, no," said Galinda, a quality of surprise in her voice. "I distinctly remember you huddling under the covers and groaning at me to blow out the candle. When did you find time to do this and _why are you crushing on me?"_

"Sarcasm," said Miss Elphaba, setting her tray down. "Just one of the many services I offer." She paused to glance over her shoulder and wink at Galinda, who returned the favor with a pouting mouth and narrowed eyes. Miss Elphaba drew a chair up to the table, taking extra care to scrape it over the floor so that Pfannee pressed her hands to her ears. "Every other table is full," she gave as an excuse, shrugging her shoulders and digging into the apple crisp.

"_This_ table is full," said Pfannee hotly; Miss Elphaba didn't seem to notice or care.

"Who could it be," said Galinda, each word slower than the one before it. Her forefinger was pressed to her lips and her brow was deeply furrowed.

"Don't hurt yourself, Miss Galinda," said Miss Elphaba. Galinda smirked at Miss Elphaba and, when the latter looked away again, the former rolled her eyes. "It's rather obvious, isn't it?"

"Obvious?" said Shenshen, barely suppressing her giggles. "There are about a million boys in this school, Miss Alphabet, and it could be any one of them."

"Oh, sure," said Miss Elphaba, "but you have to factor in that Shiz is a very large place and there are very many boys and however popular you may find yourself amongst these girls, Miss Galinda, I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who wouldn't recognize the name 'Galinda of the Arduennas.'"

This shocking realization sent Galinda into silence as she contemplated Miss Elphaba's words.

"Now, think, Miss Galinda, how many boys do you _really_ know? That is, how many boys have you either conversed with or do you have a class with?"

"There's Avaric, Crope, Tibbett, Boq… that Winkie prince" – Elphaba cringed at the word "Winkie" – "Ojo, Anko, Pipt, Evoldo, Roquat… that's all I can think of."

"Well, then, of those boys, who did you get Valentines from?"

"Oh!" Galinda quickly gathered up the Valentine cards from the floor and began searching through then. "Ojo… Anko… Crope and Tibbett… Roquat and Pipt… Evoldo… Avaric…"

"Miss Galinda, please tell me you aren't as daft as this."

"I'm not daft, Miss Elphaba, I'm just avoiding the obvious and horrible answer." Galinda was in a huff upon the realization of the identity of her Admirer. "That's not fair, I was so excited but it's just _him_."

"Maybe _he's_ actually worth a chance," says Miss Elphaba, absently wiping her face with a napkin.

"Who is it?" squealed Shenshen.

"Boq," said Miss Elphaba and Galinda together.

II.

It was naturally a disappointment when Miss Galinda had not given him a Valentine. He momentarily considered marching over to her table and taking back the card he had given her, but decided against it, since he figured Miss Galinda probably wouldn't ever figure out who it was from anyway. And besides, Fiyero hadn't received a card from Miss Galinda either – then again, the Winkie prince hadn't received cards from _anyone._ Boq had at least received cards from Miss Elphaba, Crope, and Tibbett…

"Earth to Boq," said Avaric, snapping Boq firmly back into reality.

Crope was holding both his card from Miss Galinda and Tibbett's. "Galinda put more hearts on mine than on yours," he told Tibbett. Tibbett, however, didn't seem to care, as he was caught grinning in a daydream as he stared at the card he had received from Crope.

"No matter," said Avaric to Crope. "Mine is bigger anyway." With the matter decidedly settled, Avaric tossed the Valentine aside and returned to the satisfaction of his morning meal.

Boq watched as Miss Galinda opened the card he had sent her. It wasn't long before Miss Galinda was telling the other girls about it and Miss Milla was snatching it away. Elphaba joined their table before long and Boq, knowing that one way or another Elphaba would find a way to figure out who the Admirer was, stood to leave.

"Wait," said the Winkie prince. "I'll go with you."

III.

Elphaba looked up to see Boq and the Winkie prince leaving together. Boq, of course, glanced at her on his way out and looked positively sick. She winked at him and he smiled weakly back before giving a last, longing glance at Miss Galinda and exiting the cafeteria. "I have to go," she told Miss Galinda and her girlish posse and she quickly left the cafeteria.

"Boq!" she called, buttoning up her coat as she stepped out in the bitter February wind. "Boq! Wait!"

The prince looked over his shoulder, but Boq kept going. With a roll of her eyes and a frustrated huff, Elphaba sprinted to catch up with the boys. "Boq, I know you hear me!"

"Go 'way!" Boq called.

"Boq, I didn't tell Galinda it was you!"

"Liar."

"All right, that was a lie, but please, just wait."

Boq stopped, whirling around. "She didn't even give me a Valentine," he said bitterly. "Not even a little heart with her name on it. I wouldn't have cared if there was lace or glitter or anything, just _something_ would have been nice. Crope and Tibbett, of all people, she gave _them_ cards, why not me? Don't follow me or I'll be forced into hurting you." He dashed away just as the snow began to fall.

"Will he be all right?" asked the prince, his voice hushed and quiet.

"Oh yes, of course," said Elphaba. "He's all right. He's always all right. He's just a bit overdramatic, which is partly why I think he and Miss Galinda would make such a fantastic coupling. He's upset because he sent Miss Galinda a Secret Admirer Valentine and she figured out it was him, but she didn't give anything to him at all."

"Valentine's Day is stupid anyway," said the prince, starting to walk away. Elphaba quickly joined him. "It's just a commercial holiday, an excuse for the Wizard to have a day off from seeing people and an excuse for all the shops to sell extra candy and an excuse for the girls – or Boq – to get worked up about it."

"Finally, someone who understands," said Elphaba. "I never understood the purpose in a holiday like Valentine's Day. Even if St. Valentine was real, he would have existed in wherever the Wizard came from. It's not even a holiday, or a saint, associated with Oz."

"Yes, and usually it's just a cruel reminder," said the prince. "Of relationships that aren't working, or relationships that never worked, or relationships that – that you're forced into…" He trailed off, he gaze trained on the gray, snow-breathing sky.

"I'm Elphaba," she says, sticking out a hand.

"Fiyero," he says, smiling and shaking her hand.

IV.

"Do you swear it's not Boq?"

"I swear it's not Boq."

"Are you lying to me?"

"Yes."

Galinda turned around to argue, but Miss Elphaba had already dashed away. In honor of "the stupidity that is St. Valentine," Miss Elphaba had set up Galinda on a blind date. Galinda would have refused if it hadn't been for the chance for her to get all dolled up for the occasion – she had decided on a white taffeta party dress with a pink satin sash. Her hair was extra curly due to hot rollers and pink ribbons pulled them away from her face. Galinda had described her entire outfit in full detail to Elphaba before she had even put it on, and even then she had made several changes. If there was one thing Galinda was excellent at, it was fashion.

The café had been especially decorated for Valentine's Day and all of the tables had been arranged for two, so as to fit in as many individual couples as possible. Pink and red and white decorated the walls and ceiling with gaudy selfishness and heart-shaped confetti was sprinkled on the tables and floors. Galinda ordered a strawberry lemonade from the waitress and waited on the edge of her seat for her date to arrive.

As soon as he walked in the door, Galinda knew it was him.

Boq.

She wanted to die.

Although he did look rather respectable tonight. He wasn't wearing the stupid cap he usually wore and he had dressed simply but nicely in black pants, a crisp white shirt, and a cobalt blue vest. Of course, Galinda would have rather had that he wore a pink or red vest for Valentine's Day, but cobalt worked well with his messy blond curls and blue eyes, so she said nothing.

He wasn't smiling, however, as he took his seat, and he gave only a mumbled "Hello" to her before asking the waitress for a water.

"Boq?" she said tenderly.

"Yes, that's me," he said, his tone harsh and his brow furrowed.

"Are you angry with me for something?"

"Possibly."

"Oh, be a baby about it then!" said Miss Galinda.

Boq gave out a huff. "All I wanted was a Valentine from you, and you couldn't even do that. I set it all up, I was going to be your Secret Admirer and I was planning to leave clues for you throughout the day, but then of course Miss Elphaba had to tell you that it was me, and so it never would have worked, but then I decided I didn't want it to work because you obviously didn't care about me enough to give me a Valentine, and it was just sort of stupid of me to expect anything like that from you because, I mean, of course you're Little Miss Sunshine and I'm just the stupid Munchkinlander farmer, right, so I just didn't think that you –"

Boq was cut off by Galinda's kiss.

He quickly pulled away. "What was that for?" he demanded.

"To see if I would like it," said Galinda simply.

Boq grinned. "And… and did you?"

Galinda smiled. "Yes… yes, I did."

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_Please review!_


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